Trump Says He Aims to ‘Rein in’ Intelligence Agencies

Says US agencies 'have run amok'

In nominating John Ratcliffe as the new Director of National Intelligence, President Trump says his goal is to “rein in” the US intelligence agencies. He says everyone has learned those US agencies “have run amok.”

Ratcliffe, if confirmed, would replace outgoing DNI Dan Coats. Coats is said to have disagreed with President Trump on a number of issues, raising concerns that the main goal for his replacement is just someone loyal to Trump.

Trump denied that there was any hostility with Coats, however, saying that Coats just got “a little confused” sometimes. Trump has consistently attacked the intelligence community, seeing them as hostile to him.

Ratcliffe is being attacked by Democrats for defending Trump during the Mueller hearing in the House, with some questioning his qualifications for the post and others insisting that his allegiance to Trump made him ill-suited to the post.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.